Bin Laden Son-in-Law Pleads Not Guilty

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and longtime suspected member of al Qaeda has been captured by U.S. officials, who are preparing to bring him to the U.S. to face charges. Devlin Barrett reports. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.

By

Chad Bray

Updated March 8, 2013 2:16 p.m. ET

More than a decade after he warned Muslims not to fly or live in high rises following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden appeared before a federal judge in New York on Friday and pleaded not guilty to plotting to kill Americans.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, described by U.S. officials as a 47-year-old former teacher and preacher, was charged in a one-count indictment made public late Thursday with conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, namely for his role as the onetime spokesman for al Qaeda, the terrorist organization run by his late father-in-law. He faces life in prison if convicted.

At the brief hearing in Manhattan federal court, Mr. Abu Graith, who was ordered detained, was wearing blue prison garb and was led into the ornate ceremonial courtroom in handcuffs. He spent most of the hearing seated, wearing headphones so he could hear the translation by an Arabic interpreter.

The hearing, attended mostly by journalists and courthouse staff, was held on the ninth floor of the courthouse at 500 Pearl St., one of two federal courthouses in lower Manhattan.

ENLARGE

An artist's sketch shows Suleiman Abu Ghaith at the U.S. District Court in New York on Friday.
Reuters

"The purpose of this initial proceeding is to advise you of your rights and your right to legal counsel," U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said. "This is not a trial."

Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Cronan told the court that after Mr. Abu Ghaith was taken into custody, he gave a 22-page statement to law enforcement. That statement, in the form of a Federal Bureau of Investigation report, as well as a number of DVDs containing speeches by Mr. Abu Ghaith, were turned over to his lawyers, the prosecutor said.

Mr. Abu Ghaith was taken into custody by U.S. law-enforcement officials at about midnight New York time on Thursday, Feb. 28, and arrived in New York about 12:30 p.m. a day later, Mr. Cronan said.

At Friday's hearing, three lawyers were appointed to represent Mr. Abu Ghaith and the not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf. The next hearing in the case is April 8.

Philip Weinstein, one of his appointed lawyers, said the attorneys were in the process of getting security clearances in case there was classified material that could be used as evidence. About half of the taped statements by his client had been translated into English by the government, Mr. Weinstein said.

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Mr. Abu Ghaith was captured in Jordan after he was deported from Turkey, according to people familiar with the investigation. He was detained in Turkey last month after leaving Iran, where U.S. officials believed he had been hiding for a decade, according to people familiar with the matter.

Alireza Miryousefi, first secretary at Iran's mission to the United Nations, said his office didn't have information about Mr. Abu Ghaith's case.

"Our position about al Qaeda is clear. Iran has never permitted al Qaeda to have any activity or operation from or inside Iran.''

Mr. Abu Ghaith is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, one of two federal facilities in New York City that house defendants awaiting trial.

A U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesman, citing agency policy, declined to comment on the specific conditions under which Mr. Abu Ghaith is being housed.

Terrorism suspects or other defendants who might be considered at risk or a risk to others in the general population are typically housed in a section of the facility known as the Special Housing Unit, or SHU. Defendants in that section are housed one or two per cell and mostly confined to their cells, except for limited exercise periods each day.

Mr. Abu Ghaith was never an operational commander in the organization but was the voice of al Qaeda in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks, according to terrorism experts.

According to the indictment, Mr. Abu Ghaith appeared with Mr. bin Laden the day after the attacks and said a "great army" was gathering against the U.S. In another statement, he advised Muslims, children and opponents of the U.S. "not to board any aircraft and not to live in high rises," according to the indictment.

In a videotaped message in October 2001, Mr. Abu Ghaith warned Americans that "the storms of planes will not stop until you drag your defeated tails from Afghanistan, not until you raise your hands from the Jews in Palestine, not until you lift the embargo on the Iraqi people, not until you leave the Arabian Peninsula, not until you stop supporting the Hindus against the Muslims in Kashmir.''

He was stripped of his Kuwaiti citizenship following the release of that video.

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